Canyon Strive. New and broken. Fix or return?

I have a Canyon Strive AL 6.0. It is about 6 wks and maybe 200miles ‘old’ and I’m not a happy chappie:
First proper ride out at Afan, brake hose chafed the seatstay, took the paint off and scored the frame. “Helicopter tape is good for that” say Canyon – bit late now.
3rd or 4th ride out, shapeshifter packed up and stuck in downhill mode. “Go through the setup process” say Canyon – bit difficult when stage 1 of setup is to put it in XC mode …
Latest offer is wait 3wks for a replacement shapeshifter or send the bike back for a refund.
So, get it fixed trust that all will be well from hereon in or bail out while I can?

Sounds like you got a Friday bike.

I’d send it back, you won’t be happy with it :p

Likelihood is you’ve got an old shapeshifter, canyon are meant to have redesigned the seals and stuff in them and given them a new part number. Hopefully it should fix the problems with them!

Got a mate with a shape shifter that rests between both settings. It goes into XC but then sags back to the middle. You put it in downhill and it moves to around the middle of the two settings. I put a shock pump on it and on removal there was loads of oil in the valve so something has given up. 3 week wait for a replacement.

They sent me a shapeshifter FOC in about a week which was pretty good. Then they sent me an invoice for £70 for it which was not good.

Anyway, try taking some pressure out. I’m not very impressed with the sob story to be honest. A small scuff and a (slightly) faulty part they’ve offered to replace OR your money back no questions asked? Sounds pretty good.

Mate had same problems
Got a refund and bought an enduro, he’s very happy now

Superficial – are you sure it was an invoice?
When they sent out a cassette for my sons bike I phoned them and there was no charge but came with paperwork that looked like an invoice (probably just so their systems balanced)

Superficial – are you sure it was an invoice?

It was quite aggressively worded and demanded payment within 8 days. I suspect it was a system glitch from when they sent me the Shapeshifter. Anyway, I never paid it and I haven’t heard anything more. That was about 6 weeks ago.

I’m sure it’s a great bike and the spec is superb but I’ve heard too many horror stories about stuck ‘shapeshifter’ mechanisms to rule it out as a viable option for me.
I think I’d go with the shorter travel non shapeshifter bike (Spectral?) with the 140mm back end and just fit a longer fork.

We got our replacement shapeshifter in less than a week after reporting our issue. It was through the Canyon UK office that I arranged it. Customer Service was pretty good.

Send it back, take the full refund and buy something else, pretty simple solution really.

Thanks for all the replies people. Have opted to get a replacement shifter … fingers crossed this will sort it (and is the last thing that needs dealing with!!!)

Friend had shapeshifter problems, had it replaced twice, all good now, and LOVES the bike

I had a Friday road bike from Canyon and the whole experience was a bit rubbish

It threw the chain into the BB and scratched the carbon the first time I shifted down and I had several other annoying glitches including a warranty claim that wasnt handled particularly well either IMHO – they replaced the component but left me out of pocket for the actual fitting of it with a £10 “goodwill” payment

Is it still the same bloke at the UK office/hut or have they become a bit more formal now?

Much as I love the bike, and especially the price, Im not sure Id buy another

Good luck

Got a Strive race 6.0 near the start of the year; had two minor problems, one of which was the front brake hose cabling was sloppy causing it to rub the fork arch badly on the first run out. Uk customer service guys were really helpful dealing with that (and the chain which was the other thing). Was a little wary of the shapeshifter when I bought it (with it being 1st gen, worried it might fail), but it’s still good 7 months later.